Free Republic

Russia's new offensive into Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region has done what months of lobbying from President Volodymyr Zelensky could not: secured Kyiv's ability to fire advanced Western weapons at Moscow's forces within their borders. The Russian drive into the Kharkiv border region—where fighting is ongoing some 15 miles north of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city and an important political, economic, and cultural center—has prompted Kyiv's NATO backers into a flurry of diplomatic and military activity, with the result that Ukrainian cross-border strikes are now ravaging Russian forces operating in the Belgorod region.

Vladimir Putin faces yet another military farce after Russian bomber planes mistakenly dropped four bombs on a Russian village near the Ukrainian border - and it is far from the first time this has happened. Vladimir Putin's military force dropped four glide bombs intended for attacks on Ukraine's Kharkiv region on the Russian village of Shebekino instead last week. Shebekino is a village in the border region of Belgorod region, which has often borne the burnt of Ukrainian drone strikes. The Belgorod region houses several Russian military bases and training grounds. It has recently been rocked by near-daily explosions as...

Vladimir Putin has been sworn in for his fifth term as Russia's president in front of dignitaries, celebrities and friends, including US actor Steven Seagal and a biker gang leader known as 'The Surgeon'. -snip- Also in attendance was Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, a crony of Putin's who has been the subject of claims that he is terminally ill in recent weeks. The Head of the Chechen Republic appeared to struggle up the stairs into the hall as he arrived flanked by his aides, who helped him to pull off his jacket when they reached the top.